after the brief deluge

The hail came down last night in quarter-sized pieces, like so many icy doubloons escaping from the pirate sky. I daydreamed of Denmark and bluebirds.

wind and bloom

We live in a reasonably windy region. Today the wind went beyond reason. Days like today remind me I live in the west, as the whole day had a western wind feel. I called the local Garland utility about a dangling (but probably non-lethal) wire I saw on my drive home. All over the metroplex, people lost electricity. I saw fences out. The news is full of stories about wildfires a hundred miles west.

On my drive home from work, I stopped at Breckinridge Park in Richardson, usually one of the most reliable wildflower displays. Alas, I was too late--most of the flowers were gone, and the city, despite its focus on conserving them, had given up and mowed.

But then I went to Oak Point Park in Plano:

( notwithstanding the wind )